CONCORD — Protesters of the NH Animal Rights League picketed NH Fish and Game in Concord, NH, on Friday, Nov. 23 in acknowledgment of Fur-Free Friday, the day on which animal advocates all around the globe educate holiday shoppers about the cruel fur industry.

The Fish and Game site was chosen because of the agency’s policy of allowing long trapping seasons and the use of steel jaw leghold traps, Conibear traps, and drowning snares.

Fur trapping in NH is a recreational activity which causes extreme pain and great suffering to animals. It supplies the marketplace with an unnecessary product that serves merely as a status symbol, since we have many fabrics today which supply warmth to the wearer. Fur is no longer necessary.

Besides the pain endured by an animal tearing at his flesh and bones in order to escape from his trap, the cruelty of the trapper’s killing methods should not be overlooked. A trapper kills his victim by drowning, bludgeoning, or suffocating--all methods considered inhumane by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) under its euthanasia guidelines.

Coincidentally, a bald eagle was caught in a leghold trap set by a licensed trapper and perhaps targeting a coyote, on the day before Thanksgiving in Salem, NH. Leghold traps are indiscriminate and often catch unintended victims or “non-targets.” It is estimated that for every one targeted species, two non-targeted animals are caught in traps.

Non-targeted animals include domesticated animals and many birds. “The eagle that was trapped and released in Salem is just one incident that the public has been made aware of,” stated Linda Dionne, president of the New Hampshire Animal Rights League. “More often than not, such incidents go unreported.”

NH Animal Rights League asks all shoppers not to buy products made of or trimmed with fur. If they could, New Hampshire wildlife would thank you for saving their lives through your caring and humane actions.